Research into Sjögren Syndrome

There are numerous lines of research into this syndrome, many aimed at better understanding the immune mechanisms that lead to the disease. However, those that are most practical in the short term, for both the patient and the doctor, focus on trying to better understand how the disease presents itself and how it can be diagnosed.

To do this, several lines of research look at the use of ultrasound for studying the salivary glands. This is a non-invasive technique that can be repeated easily. Its main drawback is that the specialist who carries out the ultrasound must have experience in interpreting salivary gland results in patients with Sjögren Syndrome.

One of the great breakthroughs of the 21st century, directly linked to new technologies, is the capability of analysing data from a large number of patients to help understand how the disease is presented and how it may progress. One of the first initiatives along these lines, came from the Autoimmune Diseases Service at Hospital Clínic in collaboration with the Autoimmune Diseases Study Group (GEAS) of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI).  This study has involved more than 1,500 controlled patients from 25 Internal Medicine Services all across Spain.

One the most innovative projects, with the greatest international impact, also led by the Autoimmune Diseases Service at Hospital Clínic, is the Big Data Sjögren Project. This study involves the analysis of nearly 11,000 patients with this disease, from more than 30 countries on five continents.

Over the last year, two large European projects on Sjögren Syndrome have been launched to analyse all aspects of the disease, as a whole and in a coordinated manner, in all European countries: the HARMONICSS (https://harmonicss.eu/) and NECESSITY projects of the European H2020 call. Hospital Clínic is coordinating both these projects in Spain.